This invention relates to merchandise display packaging, more particularly a transparent package or envelope for protection, display, and stacking of soft goods.
In retail stores where such goods are sold, soft goods such as shirts, blouses, pajamas, blankets, sheets and the like are generally packaged in transparent material such as cellophane for protection and display of the contents. These packages serve several purposes and must meet several requirements, as follows:
1. Transparency--so that the customer can examine the contents without removing the cover. PA1 2. Strength--sufficient to withstand handling without tearing, breaking, or deteriorating in the display environment. PA1 3. Protection--of the contents so they do not become soiled while being displayed and handled. PA1 4. Information--the covering usually supplies, or is transparent to, information as to size, cost, description or other data relating to the contents. PA1 5. Low cost--in order to remain competitive, the cost of such packaging must be minimal. PA1 6. Low Display Cost--this relates to the cost of labor and facilities used to keep the goods on display.
The last requirement, low display cost, is a generally unrecognized or unchallenged major cost in retail merchandising. Merchandise such as shirts, pajamas, blankets and the like must be displayed in a large variety of sizes, colors, prices, and styles in order to attract customer interest. To accommodate as much as possible of a great variety, such goods are normally stacked to minimize space required for display. The maintenance of orderly stacks of sizes, color, and styles in various price categories is a major sales cost at the present time. This is due in large measure to slipping and sliding of stacked packages, one over another, because their wrappings are generally of a hard slippery plastic like cellophane. The stacked items slip into disarray and this necessitates laborious and costly resorting and restacking of the goods in order to make them presentable and attractive. This cost has been largely unrecognized to the present, or at least unchallanged, but it is a substantial percentage of retail merchandising cost.
An object of the present invention is to provide a transparent protective display package for soft goods, which package is adapted for adhesive or frictional engagement with other like packages for stability of stacking.